VIC Where to buy PPOR @ $900k

Apologies, if this has been asked and answered before. Feel free to point me to the thread.
We moved to Melb from Sydney early last year and have been renting in Caulfield since. We are now at a stage where we decided to stay on and looking for a PPOR.

Our budget is around $900k. Looking for an established 3bed, 2bath house with decent land component (500sqm ish), less than 15km from the city (this is negotiable if the suburb is well connected via public transport). We have 2 girls, one starting Primary school next and other going to year 5. So, being closer to good primary and high school is desirable. Though, I am in South east and like it as well, I am ok to any direction, if it ticks all the boxes.

So far, I have been looking at these suburbs; Bentleigh, Oakleigh, Clayton, Hughesdale, Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Maribyrnong, Avondale Heights, Heidelberg heights, Doncaster, to name a few

I would appreciate if you all can guide me to suburbs that I can add to my list and if possible highlighting good and bad streets in those suburbs.

 

What high school are you looking at for your girls? Independent or public?

 

Either independent or Public. Not fully private.

 

Any reviews on Sunshine North Suburb?
I have not physically gone there. Just checked on Google maps and real estate websites.
I can see houses in my budget.

 

Thanks mate. I will have a look it
A mate mentioned Bundoora and it looks in my budget, thought far, but well connected by public transport

 

Oh is it??
I was banking on taking train to and from Watsonia

 

Reservoir or Preston, very well serviced by public transport, a selection of schools and less than 10km from cbd

 

I can confirm Preston and reservoir to be the two suburbs to keep an eye out for.

 

Actually, for public trasport, with the very short drive, you can reach the Watsonia station from Bundoora and that line has express trains to the city in the morning, what takes 705 years to get to CBD is the Mernda line with no express trains that stop all stations 26 stations to Flinders from South Morang (not even one express train per day) while you have only 17 stations to Flinders from Watsonia and you have many express trains in peak morning and afternoon. there are streets in suburbs that have a train station that you need to drive more to reach the station compare to suburbs with no train stations, depends on your location in Bundoora, even the Keon Park is very easy to rach for people who live west side of Plenty road, from my experience, north of ring road should be avoided,
Thanks

 

I'm not sure about exact valuations, but would you consider a townhouse with small yard in the McKinnon school zone? I used to live nearby and loved the area, and the school itself is one of the top in state. Nearby public primaries are also excellent.

Values in the Mckinnon/bentleigh area have been going up... Very walkable, family friendly area with excellent public transport, parks, library, etc. Might be a bit smaller than 500sqm land for a townhouse though.

 

I looked at Mckinnon to start with, but could not find a same config townhouse in my budget.

 

@Mumbai that's a shame, I'm very fond of that area! Good luck with your search.

 

Selection of schools? Only good public schools are Preston west and Bell primary schools.

 

Mate there is near 10 schools in Preston area, granted not all are public but I stated a selection, of which there is a great one!
Preston primary on Tyler street is a top school, Preston south on Hotham etc
Fantastic area imo, not everyone has to agree

 

Well if we’re talking independent, girls catholic school ok? There’s one in Altona, mt st Joseph’s that gets good vce results and I know some
Kids who went there and were happy, got good results, got into good uni courses etc. public primaries in Altona (Altona and Seaholme primary) are ranked well. And there’s westbourne grammar nearby if you want to go that route. 900k would get you a lot in Altona and surrounds.

Williamstown also has highly ranked public primaries and high schools and I’m pretty sure 900k could get you either a nice townhouse or small house.

Edit: if you haven’t visited the suburbs, I recommend of course you check them out in person

 

Preston has a lot going for it, if it had a good government secondary school would be even better. Most ppl I know in Preston send their kids to private schools. Preston primary is hardly what I would call a "top" school, it's nowhere near the top government primary schools in Melbourne.

 

Agree, that district really needs a good gov secondary school as reservoir high isn’t the greatest.